The Echoes of Time
by only-because3
Summary: They’re thirteen and best friends. He likes her and he’s positive that it’ll never amount to anything. They’re fourteen when he first kisses her.


Hello Hello! Just a random oneshot that I've been trying to finish for over a week. It's pretty simple and I'm not sure I like how I ended it but eh. Hope y'all enjoy!

* * *

She lays on her stomach, hips and head bouncing from side to side as her feet tap the edge of the coffee table behind her when he realizes he likes her (he would say love if he had any idea what that word meant). She's singing along to some No Doubt song and Puck wonders if she (or anyone) realizes how great she sings.

She exhales loudly just before the next verse starts and Puck stares at her, watches the way her body movements slow with the music, only to speed up again once it goes back to the chorus. She runs a hand through her hair, pushing back her grown out bangs as she flips through the book she brought with her. She rolls over suddenly as the song shuffles to another one, her legs resting on the top of the table now just as his do. "I'm kinda bored," she groans and he shrugs. There isn't much to do in Lima and he's condemned to the house until his mom gets off work.

Her oversized shirt bunched up in the process of her roll, her black leggings now sitting a little lower on her hips resulting in the tiniest bit of pale skin poking out. She arches an eyebrow at him, lips forming into a pout. "_Noah_, I'm bored," she whines and he only shrugs at her again.

"We could watch a movie… other than that there isn't much else to do." She tosses her head to the side, the golden blonde strands now hiding her beautiful face from him. Quickly and suddenly, she springs to her feet, going over to the movie shelf on the opposite wall.

"Can we watch _any_ movie," she asks and he can tell there's a bit of a mischievous undertone to her voice. She spins on her heels, an old tattered VHS copy of Spice World in her hands. She's grinning and he really hates that movie. Every time they hang out she tries to get him to watch it and usually he'll say no. But he likes listening to her sing so he sighs and she giddily pops the movie into the VCR.

They're thirteen and best friends. He likes her and he's positive that it'll never amount to anything.

* * *

They're fourteen when he kisses her. They're in her backyard on the wooden porch swing and her parents are at the store. Her legs are curled close to her, her blue dress wrinkled and exposing more of her legs than she should allow. Her hair is pinned back on both sides, her head resting on her knee and she's smiling at him.

Finn's off visiting his grandparents for the month and it seems like old times. Before she was friends with Finn too and before he had to share her with him.

She lifts her hand up and runs it over his shaven head. "You look weird with no hair," she muses quietly and he raises an eyebrow.

"A good weird?"

She giggles softly, her smile widening. "Yeah, it's a good weird." The hand she used to rub his head falls into his, their fingers lacing together. "Do you think high school's going to change things?"

He shrugs, thumb rubbing her soft skin. "I don't think it will, not if we don't let it." He glances over at her and she smiles, her head lifting from its perch on her knee.

"Good." She scoots closer to him and kisses his cheek in the way she's done since they were ten years old and he took care of her when she fell off her bike. When she pulls back and looks at him, he takes a deep breath and then just pushes his lips against hers. It's awkward and kinda weird and all the things a first kiss should be.

The only thing that makes him feel like he didn't make a complete ass of himself is the fact that she's still smiling when he looks at her again.

* * *

Some how high school did change things and instead of being his, she's Finn's. He's not sure how it happened, and sometimes when he looks at her and they lock eyes, it looks like she isn't sure how it did either. So when the moment comes that Finn's straying and she can see it with her own two eyes, she goes to Puck because that's what she's always done; she's not sure she knows much different.

And so they hang out in his basement, just like they always did when they were younger and they talk about everything other than Finn and they laugh and when her eyes hit the old movie collection that's been gathering dust, her whole face lights up. She jumps to her feet and her hands expertly find the old movie. "Noah…" Its weird hearing her call him that again but he really doesn't mind. He already knows which movie she has when she turns around to look at him with pleading eyes.

"Put the movie in. I'll go get us something to drink." He climbs the stairs two by two and later that night he takes off her red Cheerio uniform, tossing it on empty wine cooler bottles as she smiles up at him. Spice World plays in the background as he touches her bare skin and it's when their childhood and pretend adulthood meet. They aren't thinking about how this will hurt Finn when this is finally revealed (because they're not stupid; it doesn't matter if they both stay tight lipped, this mistake will somehow see the light of day), instead thinking only of how good this is feeling and how they can't believe this never happened before.

* * *

He tries to forget a lot of their interaction. He blocks out when she calls him a Lima Loser (she _can't_ mean that) and blocks out the fact that she barely speaks to him anymore. He has to find out through Finn, his best friend (he's not sure he means that anymore because he's stolen (not really) the only person outside of his family that ever meant anything to him), how Quinn is doing.

He soaks up the moments they share during Glee. He tries not to let himself get too excited when she lets him touch her back just after he finds out she's pregnant or when she curls a finger at him and touches his chest when they perform Last Name. He tries not to look like he's completely enthralled by her when the girls do their mash up and tries not to notice her swoon when he sings Sweet Caroline (instead, he makes it look like he's singing it to Rachel). But most importantly, he tries not to stare at her too much during Keep Holding On because the look on her face (the look that someone gets when they realize that they're hanging by a single thread that is already twisting and turning from the weight) is enough to make him throw everything away and just wrap his arms around her.

Enough for him to lie to her and tell her that it'll all be okay.

* * *

When he finds her in the Home Ec room, he hands her 18 dollars and makes himself sound both better and worse than Finn. He offers her $18 (which is more than Finn has offered her), telling her it's all he has since he bought nun-chucks and dip (which is a lie (he really put the rest in a bank account he opened up for the baby growing underneath her flat stomach) but he has a reputation to uphold now and he can't let her know that). She gives him the money back and tells him that no matter what he does, the baby will be Finn's, never his.

He loves the smile that shows up on her face when he says that it'd be pretty awesome if their baby came out with a mohawk (it reminds him of the smile she had on her face when he first kissed her).

They make a complete mess of the classroom; they throw flour and salt and eggs at each other and he's not sure how it happens. His hand somehow finds her face, calloused skin touching her soft dirty chin, fingers dangerously close to her lips while his arm wraps securely around her waist, bringing her closer as she tries to reach for another egg to break on his head.

She turns in his grasp, white teeth standing out against her cocoa covered skin. He pushes back her blonde hair and he tries not to think about the fact that she looks happy again, _truly_ happy.

They pause, awkward and comfortable air passing through parted lips. He could kiss her right now, just duck his head and kiss her dark lips, taste the bitter cocoa that's stuck to her lip-gloss. He could just kiss her perfect face and she has that look in her eyes that makes him think she won't push him away if he does.

He's made the decision in his head. He's gonna do it.

And then Finn walks in looking suspicious, a far off cry from his usual oblivious dumbass face.

Quinn pulls away, saying so playfully, "We're baking," adding a small giggle to save her own ass.

Once again, Finn's taken her away from him. It takes everything in him to not punch him in the face when he excuses himself.

* * *

When he offers her the money that he's stole from the bake sale (and the $18 that he tried to give her earlier), she tells him that the 'it' he's been referring to is a she. He's going to have a daughter; a little girl that he hopes will never meet a guy like him (the guy who hides himself behind a badass reputation).

Quinn calls him special and romantic and she's reminded of the boy she grew up with. She touches his chest, hand wanting to desperately grab his jacket and say that everything she's said to him prior to this moment has been a lie. To say that she really does want _him_, has always wanted him, and that she'll leave Finn tomorrow.

But she can't do that. That's careless and stupid and she's not going to lose stability for her heart.

So instead she tells him that she was wrong. That he's not a Lima loser and that she can't take his money. Then Finn rolls up behind him and she tries not to smile when Puck shoves the money down his pants.

He watches them sadly as she rolls away on his lap, her face half hidden by his friend's head, eyes filled with regret.

* * *

"My parents kicked me out," she tells him one day after Glee practice, biting her bottom lip hard, eyes darting around to see who's looking at them. He nods and she looks up at him quickly. "I'm staying at Finn's now."

She's not sure why she's telling him this (maybe she does kinda want him to say something now; say that she should be staying with him instead of their towering friend) but she does anyway and he doesn't know what else to do. Her hands uncomfortably rest against her bump that's slowly begun extending and he glances down at them. He tries not to smile but he does because that's where _his_ daughter is growing.

She lets her bottom lip drop only to grab it once again and start to turn away. He grabs her quickly and hugs her close, the curve of her stomach pressing into his abs. She barely has time to comprehend what's going on before he pulls away, leaving her encased in his smell.

* * *

She called him; not in the literal sense as she just walked up to him simply in the hallway and asked if he wants to baby sit with her. She may not be physically calling him but she's calling _on_ him.

He's gonna have to step up, just like he's been telling her he can do.

After they tame those weird demon ginger kids (her song of choice doesn't go unnoticed and he silently prays that it's her way of telling him she is in fact keeping their daughter) she goes into the kitchen to make them all Mac and Cheese, leaving him to keep the kids entertained on his own.

Santana keeps texting him, long after he's told her to stop, that he's busy with Quinn, but she's persistent. So while the boys veg out in front of the TV, asking him random ass questions every 3 seconds, he almost considers responding to Santana in the way that she wants. His fingers hover over the keys before turning his phone off all together.

He's already said way more than he should've to her and he swears to himself that Quinn will never find out (in the back of his head he knows that she will). He just needs to refocus and not half-heartily sext Santana just because he's bored.

Quinn appears in the doorway, hip pressed into the frame, arms crossed about her bump and bellow her swelling chest. She smiles softly as she looks at the four of them, her smile widening when they lock eyes. "Dinner's ready," she says softly and the boys run past her, all clumsily and eagerly climbing into their seats and digging into the bowls of food Quinn laid out.

He does the same, glances up at her just as her hands return to her sides, eyes opening and lips silently saying Amen.

He finds it weird and comforting that she still manages to have faith even after everything's been taken away from her.

* * *

He thought she had nothing left a few weeks ago. Her parents had kicked her out and she had lost her spot on the Cheerios and was sinking into the social tar pit. But now, now Finn's found and will likely kick her out. She's homeless and pregnant and parentless and fuck, if he could take back that night he would right now. He knows her life would be so much better if he could

(Sure, that'd mean he'd still be shitty Puck but he's willing to take back his growth if that means he could see her smiling and bitchy again).

But he can't take it back so he does the only thing he can think of that will fix this. He follows the blonde when she retreats into the hall, soft hand trailing up and down her extended stomach. He wants to be with her and he tells her this, makes another promise like he did when he tried to give her the money from the bake sale. They can be a family…

But she doesn't want to. Not now. It's too much and it's too hard and she just needs to find her independence.

He wonders if she realizes that she just broke his heart.

* * *

When he finds out that she's staying with Mr. Schue, he corners the teacher after Glee practice, after everyone else has gone home. "Mr. Schue," he asks and the older man turns around, surprised to still see him there. Noah Puckerman has never been good with words, which is probably why he has a severe case of word vomit then, jumbled words hurriedly falling out of his mouth, telling his teacher that Quinn barely talks to him and he doesn't know how she or the baby are doing and he's such a fucking _mess_.

Tears well up in his eyes but they do not fall because he** is** Noah Puckerman, not Finn Hudson and he will _not_ be a bitch about this. Still, he lets Mr. Schue hug him for a moment and then he listens intently while he gets the first of many updates.

This time he tells him that the baby is healthy. Quinn just had another ultrasound and his baby girl is growing right now schedule. Quinn keeps complaining about her back and ankles. She's also taken to eating a giant bowl of ice cream before she goes to bed and this sometimes leads to her staying up for half the night because she'll have horrible heartburn. She can also feel the baby move but nobody else can just yet. Other than that, there's nothing new, nothing important that he's missed.

Puck breathes out a sigh of relief before thanking Mr. Schue and heading home.

* * *

He watches her during lunch. She sits with Tina and Artie today, over in the corner of the cafeteria. The three of them are laughing while she peels a Clementine, painted red nails stabbing the orange flesh. He's glad she's eating healthy (or at least eating fruit to counteract all the ice cream she supposedly eats) and that not everyone has turned her back on her.

He picks up his sandwich and when he looks back over at the blonde, her eyes are wide, both Artie and Tina looking at her concerned. Her mouth hangs open a bit and then she immediately pushes out her chair, standing up fast. Something has to be wrong and he can hear Artie asking if everything's all right. But Quinn doesn't answer, instead just starts marching her way through the crowded room, blonde hair flying out behind her and loose shirt forming to her baby bump as she walks over to him quickly. Before he can even open his mouth to ask if they're okay she grabs his hand, her fingers sticky from the fruit she had been peeling, and places it on her stomach, just off to the left. Nothing happens and she presses down on his hand harder.

That's when he feels it. The light but forceful kick against Quinn's skin.

When he looks up, he sees a smile that mirrors his own. "That's the first time she's kicked hard enough for anyone else but me to feel it," she says quietly.

He's not sure what to say but before he can she's already walking away, back to where she was sitting with Artie and Tina.

* * *

He's staying late again to get another update from Mr. Schue (he'd been getting them weekly for a little over a month now) but Quinn's still in the choir room and doesn't appear to make any effort to be leaving anytime soon. "My stomach gets in the way when I drive now," she says aloud, not looking up from the book she's been reading for the past ten minutes. "So I just ride to school with Mr. Schue." She glances up then, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you still here anyway?"

"I… uh…" He glances around the room trying desperately to come up with an excuse. But nothing comes to mind, nothing better than, "I have to ask Mr. Schue something."

She accepts this and goes back to her book and he sits down at the piano bench, waiting for Schue to come back from making copies. He keeps his hands shoved in the pockets of his football jacket, looking blankly around the room, reading all the pointless posters that are on the wall. His eyes fall on to Quinn when he hears her humming (he's not even sure she realizes she's doing it). Her free hand runs up and down her large stomach, her eyebrows scrunched together as she reads her book. "Are you ever going to talk to me again?"

She looks up at him in slight confusion before shrugging her shoulders. "What do you mean? I've talked to you." Her head ducks down again, eyes scanning over black words.

"I mean about the _important_ stuff. Hell, not even the important stuff. You only address me when you feel like it," he says and she sighs, folding down the top corner of the page she was on. She closes the paperback book before tossing it on the top of her backpack, turning in her chair to face him.

"I told you I wanted to do this myself," she muses.

"And you have. You've gotten yourself a job, are paying for everything on your own, making all the decisions for you and the baby, which I _should_ have some say in but I'm not trying to argue with you. I know that you don't want to be a family," he says, standing up and walking so that he stands directly in front of her, "but I want, no _need,_ to be involved. I want to hear if you're not doing good or if the baby is kicking the shit out of your insides or-"

She cuts him off but standing up herself, wobbling a little in the process. "First off, please don't curse. I read that the baby can already hear things. I'd prefer my child's first word to not be shit." She pushes a fallen strand of blonde hair behind her ear and crosses her arms, one hand laying flat against the side of her stomach. "Secondly, I guess you're right. I'm not really being fair to you in all of this. I don't really want to be all buddy buddy right away, but I promise to keep you updated okay?" He nods and smiles, whispering a 'thank you' before she grabs his hand, placing it on her belly once again. "As you can feel, she's been kicking up a storm. Now, say something to her."

He raises a cautious eyebrow and she just gives him an encouraging smile. "I know it seems a little ridiculous talking to my belly but seriously, just say something. That isn't a curse word," she adds quickly and he lets out a breath, looking down at her stomach before looking at her face again.

"Quinn, this is ridiculous," he says, mouth open to continue but he stops. He feels the gentle kick underneath his hand, the same kick that was absent when he addressed the blonde. His eyebrow furrow and looks back down at Quinn's stomach. "Did she just stop kicking?" The silence between them again elects more kicks against Quinn's firm skin.

"Every time you talk when she's kicking, she stops." Quinn smiles and the kicking dies down, a sign that the baby has probably gotten tired of moving around. "How's that for keeping you updated?"

He tries not to smash her belly when he hugs her.

* * *

They're hanging out in his basement again. His mom yelled at him when they first got there (cause, yeah, he really had not told her anything about this) but then stopped when Quinn started crying, saying how she was so sorry and just all around blubbering. Then, she just wrapped her arms around the girl she's known since Noah was nine years old. "It'll be okay. I'm late for work but all three of us will be talking about this later understood?"

He put Spice World in to cheer her up and she's singing along to Say You'll Be There, feet placed in his lap. "_Last time, that we had this conversation, I decided we should be friends. Yeah but now we're goin' round in circles, tell me will this déjà vu never end_," she sings at the top of her lungs while he rubs her ankles. She spouts out a few more lines before she grows quiet. Perhaps this was not the best song to sing along to while she was with him given everything that's happened.

Her eyes stay focused on the TV until two things happen. One, her stomach growls and two, she has to shut her eyes because they way Puck is rubbing her swollen ankles and feet are making her feel like she's slowly slipping into heaven. "As much as I would love for you to keep rubbing my feet, can we get some food?"

"Sarah's supposed to be home from school in a few minutes. But after that the three of us could go get some food. What're you feeling like," he asks and she weighs her head from side to side.

An hour later he and Sarah sit on one side of the booth, both staring wide eyes as Quinn devours her basket of chicken strips and fries. "What are you guys looking at," she asks, stealing the ranch that came with Puck's burger. She pours ketchup into the sauce, mixing the two with a fry before popping it into her mouth.

"You had ten chicken strips," Puck begins, Sarah perking up before he can finish his sentence.

"And you only have one left. The waitress _just_ brought the food!"

"I'm eating for two! And I don't eat much at home because all we eat is takeout and it's starting to give me serious heartburn," Quinn mutters in between bites.

"Maybe you get heartburn because you inhale the food," Sarah remarks and Puck kicks her leg under the table. "What? It's the truth!"

Quinn glares slightly as she finishes her food, picking up a napkin to wipe her hands and face. "When you get pregnant, which by the way better be a _long_ time from now, and you eat like Cookie Monster, I'm going to throw this back in your face."

Sarah dips her head as if to say fair enough before she takes a sip of water. "So, what's the dealio with my niece? She's all good in there right? Like, no extra limbs or stuff?"

Quinn shakes her head, smiling a little. "She's perfectly healthy. I think actually," Quinn says, digging through the bag next to her. She makes a noise of victory before pulling out a white glossy piece of paper. "Here she is." She hands the picture over to the younger girl and watches as she tries to decipher everything.

"This is cool and weird at the same time," Sarah mutters and Quinn looks over at Puck who looks down over his sister's shoulder. "When's she gonna be here?"

Quinn bites her lip because no decisions as of right now are final and answers the question truthfully. "Soon. Around spring break." Puck stares at her with a raised brow and she mouths that they'll talk later.

* * *

He doesn't bring it up till February, a week before Valentine's Day. "So, um… What are you going to do?" His eyes stay focused on the road in front of them while she stares out the window as they pass through suburbia.

She stays quiet for a moment, hand rubbing her belly, carefully avoiding her bully button that has recently become an outie. "I'm not sure I can support both of us." He opens his mouth to tell her that that shouldn't be an issue but she turns to look at him and continues. "But Mr. Schue said that I could still stay once the baby was born and that he'd help out. And I've applied for government help, which I'm not happy about but it needed to be done." She bites her bottom lip and glances out the windshield. "Once she kicked I knew I couldn't do it."

He smiles and he takes a hand of the steering wheel to lace fingers with her. "And how is this gonna work out?"

She shrugs. "We'll just take this one day at a time."

* * *

She's sharing an ipod with Brittany during lunch one day. She's eating a banana today, humming to herself as she looks over the taller blonde's Spanish homework, correcting little things as she goes. Her feet are in his lap and he's massaging them again and she seriously needs to consider asking him for a back rub later.

Her humming escalates, turning into a bit of a whisper, only certain words clear and loud enough for him to hear. "_I…on my knees…for you…want anybody else…about you, I touch…I want you to love me…feeling down…want you above me…search myself…_" He listens closer, leaning towards Quinn while she continues to half heartily sing. He's not sure he's heard this song before and it's confusing the shit out of him because he's only getting secondhand mixed up lyrics.

He gives up trying to figure it out but he perks up again when the words "_I touch myself_," falls from Quinn's lips. "What the hell are you singing," he asks and she lifts her gaze from the paper in front of her.

"I'm not singing," she says and he laughs lightly.

"Uh, yes you were. And from the sounds of it, it's a dirty song." She rolls her eyes and looks back down at the paper. She knows that sometimes she sings without realizing it when she's busy focusing on something else but it's rare and she doubts that she actually did. She lets out a sigh and finishes correcting Brittany's paper when she hears her own voice finish the song on the ipod. She looks up to see Puck smirking at her.

"Shut up," she says, blushing and kicking his thigh at the same time. "Next time be a little more forceful when I'm singing 'I Touch Myself' in the middle of school."

* * *

Kurt has somehow managed to convince her to go to the Valentine's dance even though she's as big as a whale now. Puck picks her up and actually looks respectable in a nice pair of slacks and a button up. She spends the entire time hanging out with the Gleeks (who normally wouldn't go to a dance in fear of even more public ridicule but Kurt was beginning to be the most persuasive person she knew) and when the night's almost over and the DJ keeps playing a slow song for every two fast ones, Puck asks her if she wants to dance.

She shakes her head no, (she'd spent the whole night sitting at the table, chatting with whichever member of New Directions wasn't dancing at the time) but he grabs her hand anyway and leads her to the dance floor. They have to stand fairly far apart but he still manages to wrap his arm so that his hand rests at the base of her back. They don't talk, just sway with the song and she tries to look at everyone but him for a while because this was getting to be a little much and her hormones were making her all sorts of crazy lately.

But she looks up at him in the middle of the song to find him smiling down at her. It reminds her of when it was all simpler and he was just a goofy kid with a head a little too big for his body and her a girl with too many freckles. She lets out a content sigh before whispering, "Do you know what I did last Valentine's Day?" He shakes his head and her smile shrinks just slightly. "I sat alone on the porch in the backyard and ate the box of chocolates my parents had gotten me. They went out for dinner and I just sat there in the freezing cold and thought about how the only boy I had kissed up until then was you. Kinda makes me sound pathetic huh?"

He shakes his head. "That's not pathetic."

She bites her bottom lip and then asks the question she's been wondering since they started high school. "Do you think that if we hadn't let things change we'd have ended up together instead of me and Finn?" He shrugs because he honestly doesn't know. It's something he's thought about lots of times but he never gives it much thought. No use racking your brain for an answer over something that can't be redone. "I've missed you Noah…"

He nods and the song ends but they still stay close. She rises on to her tiptoes, his head falling to meet hers. It's careful and innocent and reminds him so much of the first time he kissed her in the middle of summer except it's not awkward or clumsy.

It's actually kinda perfect.

* * *

Valentine's rolls around and she wakes up to roses and chocolates. She devours the chocolates and can't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

* * *

She knows that this is not a good idea. She knows that while she really does need a backrub, taking her shirt off and letting Puck give her said backrub is not wise. Her hormones have been off the charts and she's been getting horny at the drop of a pin.

Still, she sits in her room with her shirt _and_ bra off facing the closet while Puck's hands work miracles on her back. She pushes against his fingertips as they knead her flesh and aching muscles. She lets out little moans and he's thinking that this probably shouldn't be happening. Mr. Schue could come home at any second (there's already so much wrong with this sentence) and he's already a little hard just from hearing the sounds escaping her lips.

"Go lower," she instructs and his hands follow orders. She shifts slightly (he tells himself that he did _not_ just see the profile of her boob) and his fingers fall into just the right place that she moans louder than she had before. She plays with the ends of her blonde hair to try and distract her from the fact that she just wants to jump Puck right now. She'd managed to abstain for 16 years and had only given in once. She could not give in again just because she had weird pregnancy hormones coursing through her body.

Puck's barely put on his pants when Mr. Schue gets home.

* * *

They sit side by side on his mother's couch, Caroline Fabray resting on her legs. Brown hair and blue eyes, full lips like Quinn's, nose like Puck's. She stares up at the two teens, fists and legs moving, hand opening to grip Quinn's extended index finger. "I still can't believe I helped make this," Puck says softly and she just lets her head rest against his shoulder.

"She is so friggen cute," the new mother gushes, pulling down the pink dress the infant was dressed in. "I'm totally sending a picture of her to my parents. They are gonna be so upset once they see you and realize what a mistake they made." Puck laughs lightly and drops a kiss on her blonde hair.

Later when he takes them back to Mr. Schue's (he _hates_ that they don't live together but they need to take it one-step at a time) he watches as Quinn puts the baby to bed. She has a closed lipped smile and she looks so tried but when she looks at him after she kisses the baby's head, he can see that look in her eyes that tells him this is all gonna be worth it. That everything she's gone through these past nine months is already worth it.


End file.
